Editing Religious persecution (section)

===Persecution of Baháʼís===
{{Main|Persecution of Baháʼís}}
The [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼís]] are Iran's largest religious minority, and Iran is the location of one of the seventh largest Baháʼí population in the world, with just over 251,100 as of 2010.<ref name="ARDA-10">{{cite web |title=QuickLists: Most Baha'i Nations (2010) |work=[[Association of Religion Data Archives]] |year=2010 |url=https://www.thearda.com/QL2010/QuickList_40.asp |access-date=14 October 2020 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302132059/https://www.thearda.com/QL2010/QuickList_40.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> Baháʼís in Iran have been subject to unwarranted arrests, false imprisonment, beatings, torture, unjustified executions, confiscation and destruction of property owned by individuals and the Baháʼí community, denial of employment, denial of government benefits, denial of civil rights and liberties, and denial of access to higher education.

More recently, in the later months of 2005, an intensive anti-Baháʼí campaign was conducted by Iranian newspapers and radio stations. The state-run and influential ''[[Kayhan]]'' newspaper, whose [[managing editor]] is appointed by Iran's supreme leader, [[Ali Khamenei|Ayatollah Khamenei]] The press in Iran, ran nearly three dozen articles defaming the Baháʼí Faith. Furthermore, a confidential letter sent on 29 October 2005 by the Chairman of the Command Headquarters of the Armed Forced in Iran states that the Supreme Leader of Iran, [[Ali Khamenei|Ayatollah Khamenei]] has instructed the Command Headquarters to identify people who adhere to the Baháʼí Faith and to monitor their activities and gather any and all information about the members of the Baháʼí Faith. The letter was brought to the attention of the international community by Asma Jahangir, the [[Special Rapporteur (UN)|Special Rapporteur]] of the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights]] on freedom of religion or belief, in a 20 March 2006 press release [https://web.archive.org/web/20060426122357/http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/5E72D6B7B624AABBC125713700572D09?opendocument].{{Dead link|date=April 2022}}

In the press release the Special Rapporteur states that she "is highly concerned by information she has received concerning the treatment of members of the Baháʼí community in Iran." She further states that "The Special Rapporteur is concerned that this latest development indicates that the situation with regard to religious minorities in Iran is, in fact, deteriorating."
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060426122357/http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/5E72D6B7B624AABBC125713700572D09?opendocument].{{Dead link|date=April 2022}}